Monday, 30 November 2009

Us oiks up 'ere want a voice!

Is there anything like a North/South divide in the States I wonder. I suspect there is from comments which were once made by a New England lady when we said we were going to Texas. (Why would you wish to go there?)That there is such a divide is unquestionable here in the UK. So to write this post today, as we live North of an imaginary line drawn from Birmingham to the Wash (and definitely North of Watford Gap), I have donned my flat cap and apron and David is, as I write, walking round the fields in his smock with a pitchfork in his hand, to gather in his carthorses for a spot of muck-spreading.I make quite clear at the beginning that this is in no way meant to belittle the awful flooding in The Lake District (Workington and Cockermouth especially) last week. What happened there was way beyond anything here this weekend - I cannot imagine what it must be like trying to cope with the aftermath - both the deaths and the misery of the mud. But somehow The Lake District always escapes that North/South divide - maybe because it is the area where so many people spend their leisure time and has therefore gained status in the eyes of the Press.So, here is my moan for today. Yesterday we in The Dales had three inches of rain in less than twenty four hours. The field opposite is a river. Many roads were closed because of flooding. The weather was absolutely dreadful. There are even cars abandoned on the road from the top of our lane into our little market town. Getting out of our road was impossible for most of the day. Our beck overflowed across the fields, forming several new becks in the process (our major rabbit warren was deeply flooded, to the farmer's delight and Tess's horror).so, I ask a question - is there even a mention in The Times? Of course there isn't - this happened in that foreign country 'oop North. Well, gentlemen (and ladies) of the press - let me tell thee it were right bad oop 'ere; tha couldn't see t'edges for t'great big raindrops (or, to use the farmer's favourite expression "it were chuckin' it down).This morning Tess and the farmer have done their morning walk in a snowstorm. As I write this the North wind doth blow and the air is full of snowflakes. I think we can say that winter is here. Dominic has some "wet weather" photographs on his blog and if you go to painting the sun (see my blog list) you will see fantastic photographs of West Burton Falls (often painted by Turner) in all their full-flood majesty.

On a brighter note - Happy St Andrew's Day to Titus the dog, Scotland for the Senses and not forgetting More about the Song - Rachel - and to their families too, of course. Time to batten down the hatches and light the fire, methinks.

27 comments:

The New England lady's comment made me laugh, and I loved the way you wrote the unique accents.We have the same border divide thing here,the eastern states having a reputation in Australia of thinking life as we know it stops on the east coast.The capital city of Western Australia, Perth cops this isolation from mattering to the rest of Australian in a big way because of their isolation (from everything really), even though they have the biggest state.Hope your wet weather eases up soon.

There is even a divide in the state of California - Northerners would just as soon separate and form their own state and be done with us down south!

I hope you catch a respite soon, Weaver, and things have a chance to dry out. It seems early to be getting such a vast amount of water... Hoping life gets back to normal soon for all those adversely affected by the flooding.

Love your post! Yes, the US has a North and South divide as well as an East/West one. Languages and customs differ greatly and as one comment already said states like California and Idaho have definite divides as well. Isn't diversity wonderful?

I love your hoar frost photo. Growing up in Iowa I used to love the hoar frost mornings, everything encased in ice with a bright blue sky and sun shining bright made everything seem like a faerie land. It's strange how one misses small things like weather. I even hold fond memories of blizzards, tornados and floods, mostly due to the family rituals that took place while my parents sought to protect us all.

The great divide made me smile, in Germany they call it the white sausage equator. Munich is famour for them.We too had wild and woolly weather in the last few days we were still allowed to burn, we had sheet rain and a possum in the dining room!

I was only talking to my cousin yesterday and remarking on how much publicity the South got compared to this year's floods up North. Had it not been for the tragic death of the policeman I suspect there would have been even less. Being in the Midlands we frequently appear not even to exist when they are giving a weather forecast.

Hope you are getting some respite and that you are experiencing the cold but dry weather that seem to have reached us.

Hummel is right about the state of Idaho. I has three quite diverse regions. But Idaho itself is so removed from the rest of the US as to be non-existant in most Americans' minds. We are ignored in the weather and the news unless we have a MAJOR catastrophy or something super fantastic or freakish happens. A snowstorm can bury us up to the eves and there will be no mention as the weather people in Atlanta whine about their overcast skies. We are invisible, but that is all good. We can keep the best part of the United States to ourselves. Shhhhh!

Dave - "us" and "them" springs to mind instantly!It seems from your comments that everywhere has these divides. TFE hits the nail on the head when he says that "the powers that be" all live in London - so that is the sophisticated up to date place to be. Give me Yorkshire any day of the week!

Hi Weaver, sorry for your weather woes, it seems you're a day behind us for a change. We did not get the snow (won't tell the boys you've got some, as it is all they actually want to put on their Christmas list) but it's been baltic here for two days now. Frost on the inside of the windows job.

Thank you so much for the Happy St Andrews Day. Unfortunately, I fogot, and spent it working (and it was a Bank Holiday and everything!). Scotland itself suffers from Central Belt-itis - everything happens in Edinburgh and Glasgow. And those two cities, obviously, dislike each other. Ah, the ways of the world!

I think everything that happens in rural areas is overlooked by the national press unless it is a bit 'juicy' or horrific. Events of either nature will attract the media 10 deep, otherwise they just leave us all alone. What a good thing all your building work is done and your woodburning stove is up and running - perfect timing. Keep warm.

All that rain and now snow, light that fire and get out the knitting.Yes we have a divide but here we seem to be the forgotten southern land and the but of many jokes the East coast of Oz dont know we exist, but then does any politician or journalist think that anything but cities exist? Once every one had a county cousin, relation of some sort so had a bit of an idea what was going on. Now we might as well live on Mars.

We certainly have a North/South divide here in the U.S. It pretty much follows the old Mason-Dixon Line, though I don't think most Southerners today consider Maryland or Pennsylvania as "Southern" states. A more practical divider would be the Ohio River and the Mississippi River. Yankees live to the north of the Ohio; cowboys or westerners to the west. Of course the South is divided into the Deep South (cotton fields, trees draped with Spanish moss, scenes from Gone With Wind) while Mountain Southerners, Hillbillies, live in the northeastern part of this region, in the Appalachians and their foothills. (Florida, BTW, is often ignored or snubbed as being part of the True South.

South and North have distinctly different accents, foods, attitudes, lifestyles. To a lesser extent, so does Deep South from Mountain South—in great part because they were mostly settled by totally different stocks.

In the last few years there seem to be be more floods in the UK, or am I just hearing more about it? Hope the floods won't come to your area!Your new header is stunning!!I changed mine just today, and I have a question : how do you get rid of the original header, so you won't see it (the border of the original header keeps popping out)?

I guess the Lake Poets put Cumbria on the map and that makes the area more celubrious.(How DO you spell that?) I love your northern accent! Makes me quite homesick. My son lives in Idaho and WON'T come back to California. But his girlfriend is definetly a southern belle I must say it is a beautiful area for nine months of the year. I've seen enough snow to last me a life time! (Eight years in Toronto and five in Minnesota.)

Well done to Rachel who joins the farmer in saying "Down" to London. As Poet points out - it is etiket to say "up" to London, as one always goes up to one's capital city - but as the farmer rightly points out - it is downhill almost all the way from here - and even more so from Rachel's home in Scotland.

As usual these comments are so interesting to read - Scribe tells us a lot about divides - if we read all these comments then we get a pretty fair picture. There will always be divides - we jst have to put up[ with them!

You should try living in Southern Ireland!! According to the UK we don't exist at all, yet our weather forecasts here always cover the UK. All we get is the North, which is tiny by comparison to the rest. I know we're a different country but our weather is intrinsicly linked. We have had dreadful floods here. The Ifish news showed the Lake District and the UK floods but did the UK news mention the devastation here? Don't be silly. It's all a bit Irish I say.